Larry Tannenbaum: from the courtroom to the classroom
Larry was a trial lawyer for 43 years, including 27 years in the Colorado Attorney General Office. But he was also a talented musician who ended up going to law school. His passion for music never subsided and Larry started facilitating music (and other) courses for OLLI in back 2018.
I took some OLLI classes, and that is what got me thinking about teaching,” he said. “But I wasn’t sure what I was going to teach or how to do it!”
His first class, called Blues Roots and Branches, lasted eight weeks, but it wasn’t long enough to get through the material. So, he came back and created two 8-week classes (Part I and Part II) spanning two terms. And then when the pandemic hit, like many of us, he had to pivot to something he had never done … Zoom. He said that online was a fine platform and that teaching these classes helped inspire him to take up guitar at the age of 75.
Larry teamed up with Paul Simon and Glenn Gravlee for a course on mid-20th Century Popular Music. ”I teamed up with them again on a 50s music course and did a section on my biggest musical influence from high school: Elvis.”
Larry led a couple of trips to Memphis for OLLI at DU. “In my view, Memphis is the single most important American city in terms of music,” so planning this trip with Road Scholar and going along was a big highlight. "It went really well and everyone had a good time. We all learned a lot. And we did it again last November.” Larry and his group visited the National Civil Rights Museum and the Blues Hall of Fame in addition to other music venues and BBQ joints. He got interviewed on the Elvis station. At the end, everyone was tight. “We were all hugging,” he said.
When asked about facilitating, he simply said: “I like the subject matter, and I am passionate about it. I like acquiring knowledge and conveying it. And I like to acquire knowledge back.”
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